Luckless
by iflip4dolphins
Summary: Felicity never wanted to be a Pokemon trainer. She didn't count on a mysterious Absol, a twist of fate, or a collision of two legendary Pokemon. -Based on the Emerald storyline; OC's needed and cheerfully accepted-
1. A Gardener, Not a Trainer

_Diclaimer: I own Pokemon Emerald, but I don't own Pokemon._

* * *

The Absol had been wandering around Oldale for about a month now. Considering that the rarest Pokemon most people in Oldale saw was a Ralts, maybe a Surskit, if they were lucky, it was a big deal. It was also, as Felicity's grandmother was forever saying, a sign that something terrible was about to happen.

"Absol brings doom," she would say when the Pokemon had been spotted again. "It appears before disaster strikes. You mark my words, something terrible is going to happen soon."

She would then turn her attention on Flick and demand to know why she hadn't begun her journey yet. Flick would look for an excuse to escape and retreat to the backyard to care for her garden. Granted, it was small, and filled with peonies and azaleas, but it was hers. If she had a choice, she would rather have had violets, orchids, and mint, but her mother had picked out the flowers. She hadn't had much of a choice, and really, so long as she could garden, she wasn't going to complain. Her grandmother, on the other hand, didn't approve of her granddaughters' choice, and she needled Flick about it whenever she could.

Oldale was close to Littleroot, which put Flick into a difficult position. At ten years old, and a native of Oldale, she was supposed to have already begun her Pokemon journey, starting with a Pokemon given to her by Professor Birch, of course. However, when her birthday came and her parents presented her with a trainer card and a new outfit, she politely declined it and continued to dig out the weeds that were attempting to choke her favorite azalea bush.

It wasn't that Flick disliked Pokemon; she loved the creatures. She just didn't want to go on a journey with them, content to keep her garden open to any Pokemon who felt like dropping by. She even left out food, on occasion. The only Pokemon visits that annoyed her were ones by Wurmple, and that was only because they seemed to think that her asters were free lunch. The reason she'd planted them were to attract Beautifly, as the lovely bug Pokemon migrated above Oldale yearly. Wurmple food was not their designated function.

"Flick, could you come inside and set the table?" her mother called out through the screen door.

Flick sighed, sat up, and stood, brushing dirt from her jeans as she did so. She pulled off her gardening gloves and set them on the shelf as she walked inside, tracking damp soil on the carpet. Her mother glanced over from the stove and shook her head.

"Shoes off, Flick, and wash your hands," she directed. "Your father's coming home from work any minute now and I want that table set."

As she kicked off her shoes and ran her hands briefly under warm water from the sink, Flick said, "I saw a Cascoon today."

"Really?" Her mother sounded distracted. Flick shook her hands dry and reached for the plates. "Use soap, Flick."

Drat. Flick went back to the sink and used soap, then dried her hands on her shirt. "Yeah," she continued, taking down four plates from the cupboard. "It was in the azaleas."

"If it evolves here, we may have a problem on our hands," her mother commented as Flick put out the plates and began to gather forks and cups into her arms. "Knives, too," her mother reminded her.

"Okay." As Flick placed knives at every place, she asked, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"You said if Cascoon evolved here there might be a problem." Flick turned the stove off as her mother carried the casserole over to table.

"Cascoon evolve into Dustox, unless I'm very much mistaken, and Dustox poison isn't good for plants. I've heard that if treated properly, it can make a decent fertilizer, but even if that were the case, we don't have the means to do that, nor do we know how. Be a dear and get the salad for me, will you?"

As Flick moved to obey, her grandmother hobbled into the dining room, leaning on her cane for support. Her iron gray hair was held back from her face with bobby pins and she scowled at the room. "Talking about gardening nonsense again, eh?"

"It isn't nonsense," Flick protested. "It's fun and it's relaxing."

Her grandmother snorted. "Fun! Relaxing! Marianne, when are you going to talk sense into this child? She should be out with a Treecko or a Torchic or a – what was it? Right, Mudkip, same as all the other girls her age."

"Grandmother –"

"And don't think to placate me with that look, Felicity. I didn't get to be this old without learning a thing or two and you won't win me over with any puppy eyes." The elder peered into Felicity's face over the bowl of salad Flick was carrying and frowned. "You have dirt on your face."

Flick flushed and hurriedly put the salad on the table. As her mother helped her grandmother into her chair ("I'm not an invalid, Marianne.") Flick retreated into the bathroom and closed the door. Her face stared back at her as she looked into the mirror. A round face framed with wisps of brown hair that had escaped from her ponytail, brown eyes, and freckled skin. A smallish nose that was slightly redder than normal. Flick poked at it and grimaced when a white oval appeared on her skin before giving way to red again. She really needed to remember to use sunscreen, especially in the middle of summer, when the sun shone the longest. _There_ was the dirt her grandmother was talking about: A smudge on her cheek, brownish-black and dried to her skin. After a few brushes at it showed that the dirt wasn't going to go away without scrubbing, Flick made a face at herself and turned on the water.

Dinner was uneventful. Flick ate her casserole and salad without complaint as her parents and grandmother discussed the day. Her T-shirt, a plain and unassuming sky blue fingerprinted with dirt from the garden, thankfully went unnoticed, or at the very least unmentioned. As Flick got up to scrape her leftovers into Sammy's bowl, her family's Poochyena, talk at the table turned to the Absol.

"I saw it on my way back from Professor Birch's," her father said. He worked at the lab in Littleroot as an aide, getting up early to commute there every morning. He wasn't pleased with his daughter's decision to forfeit being a Pokemon trainer, but he accepted it grudgingly. "It was right in the middle of the road. I nearly rode into it."

"If it was in the middle of the road, shouldn't you have seen it coming?" her mother asked.

"It jumped out at me."

"That creature will bring disaster on us, just you wait," her grandmother added darkly. "You're lucky you didn't crash, Arthur. It probably would have eaten you."

Her father chuckled. "Pokemon don't eat humans."

"Yena!" Sammy interjected, evidently compelled to protest this fact. Flick grinned and rubbed Sammy behind his ears, drawing a contented growl from the Poochyena. Her father laughed.

"Sammy excepted, of course," he added. Her mother laughed, and Flick giggled, but her grandmother scowled and pointed her fork, thankfully devoid of food, at each of them in turn.

"You laugh now, but mark my words, something terrible is going to happen."

"Can I take Sammy out for a walk?" Flick asked quickly, wanting to escape before an argument broke out. At a nod from her father, she grabbed the leash, hooked it up to Sammy's collar, and raced out through the front door, not at all eager to stay inside. Even though it was already six P.M., the sun was still shining, admittedly lower in the sky, and Flick was determined to enjoy every second of daylight.

"Want to go to the Center, Sammy?" she asked the Poochyena.

"Yena yena!" Sammy barked his agreement. Flick took off down the street at a jog, Sammy racing alongside her. When they reached the Center, Flick stopped running, and waved to the trainers entering the Center. Most of them didn't acknowledge her, but a few returned her wave. They were clearly more interested in healing their Pokemon than being polite. As she turned from the Pokemon Center to head towards the PokeMart and from there head home, a flash of white caught her eye and she turned to stare. The Absol stood there, mere feet away from her. After what seemed to be a lifetime, but what was probably only about ten seconds, the Pokemon turned and leaped away, vanishing among the buildings.

"Yena!" Sammy tugged at the leash, eager to get going.

"Okay, okay," Flick muttered absently. Still staring at the place where the Absol had been, she let Sammy tug her down the street. "What just happened?" she asked the Poochyena, turning her gaze to the small dog Pokemon.

"Ye, yena," Sammy barked happily, sniffing at the corner of a building. Flick smiled.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" she asked, watching the curious Pokemon sniff the air. "Come on, Sammy, let's head to the Mart."

Sammy's excited yips filled Flick's ears as she began to jog again, clearly stating the Poochyena's preferences. Her grandmother's words at dinner reverberated in her mind as she remembered the Absol, and she pushed them away. "Superstitious nonsense," she told herself. "Nothing'll happen to me."

* * *

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A/N: Well, hello all! This story is going to loosely follow the Emerald storyline, but there are going to be twists along the way. This story was brought on by a few very well written OC stories that I've been reading (Ever After, people) and I thought that I'd give it another try, considering that Storms has it a massive block. Now, why don't we get onto the part that you really want to deal with, hm? The OC's!

_Now, these OC's are mostly going to be side characters and prbably aren't going to appear for more than a chapter or two unless I really like them. However, I do need two other main characters, and I decided to let you guys make them. Please don't make me regret this. I'm going to give you a format and a couple of rules to follow whil submitting your OC's, and then I'll turn you loose. First rule: Give me something substantial. I'm talking paragraphs for history, appearance, and personality here, especially if you want your character to be a main. Only one OC main entry per person, but you can give me another not-main if you want. Now, here's the format:_

**Name:** This should be self explanatory.  
**Age:** If your character's a hopeful main, thye need to be ten.  
**Gender:** Again, this should be self explanatory.  
**Hometown:** Somewhere in Hoenn, preferably.  
**Occupation:** Co-ordinator, trainer, breeder... The list is endless.  
**Appearance:** What they look like, what they wear...  
**Personality:** What are they like? Cheerful? SHy? Paranoid?  
**Family:** For mains only. Optional for everyone else. I want their family members and a little description on all of them.  
**History:** How did they get to where they are now?  
**Pokemon:** I want the Pokemon name (species), their nickname if they have one, their gender, their personality, and how they were caught if they are main character entires. You can put their moves if you really want, but it doesn't really matter.

_That's it! Anyways, I am looking forward to your OC's and I'll be updating again soon! Vote of the update: Is Sammy adorable, or what?_


	2. Stalker Absol

_Diclaimer: Guess what? I still don't own Pokemon. Shocking, isn't it?_

* * *

* * *

It had been one week since the Absol had appeared in front of her, and luck had not been on Flick's side. Her run of bad luck had started the next day, when she'd gone out to the garden and found that the Cascoon had indeed evolved. An entire patch of flowers had died due to poison from the newly evolved Dustox before it had gotten used to its new wings and flew away. Then there had been the incident with Sammy's leash; she'd looked for hours only to find it shoved in her closet. Not too soon after that, Sammy had taken it into his mind to bury all of his toys in the garden. Flick was still digging up rawhide bones.

There were more incidents, falls, bumps, and lost items, but those were the worst. All minor disasters, but the fact that they all occurred after Absol had appeared made Flick worried. It was almost enough to make Flick believe all the tales she'd ever heard about the Pokemon, and she'd heard a lot.

There was one other thing that had Flick concerned, and that was the fact that, since seeing the Absol face to face, she had seen it numerous times that week. When she was gardening, when she took Sammy out for a walk… though it never came as close as it had that one time, it was very unnerving. If she didn't know better, she'd say the Absol was stalking her.

The only person she'd told about it was her father, and that was only after it was clear that the sightings she had were more than just coincidence. The only reason she had told him about it was because he worked for Professor Birch, and if there was anyone who knew how to get rid of a stalker Absol, it would be the Professor.

At least, that was Flick's line of reasoning. She had no idea if it was true or not.

"Flick, dear, it's time to come in!"

Flick tossed the squeaky toy that she'd recently removed from the ground aside, pulled off her gloves, and put the trowel next to them on the shelf as she went inside to wash up for dinner. The distant eyes of the Absol bore into her back as she shut the sliding glass door behind her.

Dinner was a subdued affair. Flick ate her pot roast quietly and only partially listened to the conversation of the adults. Daily news wasn't very interesting to her, especially as it all was adult news, nothing about anyone her age. Of course, it wasn't as though she didn't expect it. By staying behind to tend to her garden, Flick had set herself apart from everyone else. The other kids in Oldale were too young for her to be interested in playing with them, and the only other people living there were adults. Thus, the only interesting news she ever heard were things from far away, such as the results of the Pokemon Tournaments that happened, or the winners of Pokemon Contests.

"Flick!"

Flick blinked and looked up from her plate to give her father a bewildered look. From the look on his face, he'd already called her name several times. She flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry, dad."

Her father shook his head. "Listen, will you? This concerns you."

"Really?" Flick sat up straighter in her chair, interested. "Why?"

"I talked to Professor Birch about Absol," her father explained. "He'd like you to come in tomorrow so that you can tell him about it in person. You'll be coming with me when I leave, so make sure you get plenty of sleep." At Flick's confused look, he added, "I'm afraid I wasn't able to give him enough information."

"Absol?" her grandmother asked. Flick wanted to slam her head against the table. "Why, exactly, would you need to talk to that Professor about Absol, Arthur?"

"It's been following me, grandmother," Flick said. "I wanted to know if there was anything I could do about it."

Her grandmother snorted. "The only thing you can do about that thing is pray! It'll bring disaster down on you and the rest of this family."

Flick groaned, earning a reprieve from her mother that she completely ignored. "That's why I asked Dad to ask the Professor if there was anything I could do about it."

"And?" the elderly woman demanded. "Is there?"

"I don't know yet! I didn't get an answer!"

"Of course you didn't. There's nothing to be done. Absol's marked you, and something dreadful will happen to you because of it." A toothy grin spread across her face, and not for the last time, Flick thought that her grandmother would make a perfect storybook witch. "Maybe you'll finally see sense and start your Pokemon journey like you should."

"So, Professor Birch wants to see you tomorrow?" her mother intervened, obviously hoping to diffuse the situation. At Flick's shrug, she continued. "Wonderful! You can wear those new clothes I got you!"

"Do I have to?"

She received a stern, yet exasperated look. "Yes. The rest of your clothes are all dirty and stained. I won't have my daughter visiting the Professor dressed like that."

"Your mother's right," her father added.

"Can I be excused now?" Flick asked. At a nod from both her parents, she left the table and escaped to her room to consider what had just happened.

Why did Professor Birch want her to visit the lab? Flick had told her father what was going on and had asked him to relay it to the Professor and ask if there was anything she could do to get the Absol to leave her alone. If there was something, the Professor should have told him. Unless the Professor wanted to hear her explain what was going on, there was no reason for her to go to Littleroot.

That is, unless this was a plot from her parents to get her to receive her first Pokemon. Which was, now that she thought about it, completely possible.

"No point in thinking about it now," she told Sammy, who was asleep at the foot of her bed. "I may as well go to bed so that I'm actually awake when I go with Dad tomorrow."

*~*~*

As it turned out, Flick was only awake enough to pull on the clothes her mother had bought for her and grab a piece of toast before her father pulled her out the door and put her onto her bike. "The sun's not even up yet!" Flick complained, obediently snapping on her helmet and pedaling next to her father. The early morning chill had effectively woken her up.

"I need to be there early," her father replied. "You don't have a Pokemon, so you need to come with me."

"Because Zigzagoon and Poochyena are terrifying," Flick muttered, feeling decidedly unhelpful.

"The wild ones are. Don't take this lightly."

Flick shut up for the rest of the way. The wooded hills were difficult to navigate, and Flick thought privately that it would be much easier to walk the paths than ride to the town. After roughly fifteen minutes of riding, they arrived at Littleroot, and Flick was ready to throw away her bike and never look at any bike ever again.

She was glad that the lab was close to the edge of town. It meant that she only had to ride for another minute before the large white building came into view. Flick stopped riding and walked her bike the rest of the way there, leaning it up against the white bricks before entering. Her father had gone ahead of her, and when she entered, he was sitting at a desk, filling out paperwork. As the door opened, he looked up, gave his daughter a small wave, then returned to his work.

Flick wandered towards the back of the highly expansive lab, resisting the slight urge to peek into the doors she saw. The lab really wasn't very busy; aside from the five or so aides she saw dealing with various Pokemon and Pokefood, and, of course, the papers scattered on every available surface, the place was rather empty. Of course, the cacophony of noises (Pokemon cries, startled yelps, things falling, ect.) made the lab seem much larger and busier than it actually was.

Spotting an aide who didn't appear to be busy at the moment, Flick went over to him and tapped his arm, unable to reach his shoulder. "Huh – oh!" He turned around and his face lit up in recognition. "You must Arthur's girl! I hear you've got a little problem with an Absol?"

Flick gaped. "You mean _you're_ Professor Birch?"

"That's me!" the Professor replied cheerfully. A Taillow squawked angrily as it flew across the room, cutting off whatever anyone was going to say. A female aide rushed across the room to get to it, leaving a trail of papers behind her. "As you can see, it's very hectic this morning."

"Yes, sir," Flick replied respectfully. Professor Birch waved her off.

"None of this 'sir' nonsense. Call me Professor."

Flick nodded uncertainly. "Okay…Professor?"

"Better. Now," he said, leading her to an empty table with two chairs and motioning for her to sit down, "tell me what's going on with this Absol of yours."

"Oh, the Absol's not mine, Professor. It's just following me around," she hastened to explain as Professor Birch sat down opposite her, skillfully ignoring a shout of "Blast that Taillow!" from the opposite side of the room. "It started about a week ago, when it came down to me in front of the Pokemon Center, and I've been seeing it a lot ever since."

Professor Birch nodded thoughtfully. "And has it ever gotten close enough for you to touch it?"

Flick shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe the first time, but definitely not any of the others. Why?"

Instead of answering, the Professor nodded, as though he'd been told something he had expected to hear. "Were you aware," he asked blandly, though a twinkle of a smile in his eyes made Flick instantly confused and wary, "that this Absol has followed you here to the lab?"

Flick wasn't sure what she'd been expecting to hear, but it certainly wasn't that. "It did?"

Professor Birch nodded, and laughed. Flick frowned and opened her mouth to say that it wasn't funny, but the professor shook his head to stave her off. "I'm not laughing at you," he explained after he caught his breath. "I'm just finding it very amusing that you can have a Pokemon so attached to you and not realize it."

"I've never even talked to it!"

"Easy, easy!" Professor Birch smiled again, but it quickly faded into a more serious expression. Flick shut her mouth and flushed, embarrassed at her outburst. "Pokemon will often choose their trainers, even if we like to believe it's the other way around." He paused as the Taillow flew overhead, followed by the frazzled aide, then continued, "Absol has obviously chosen you. I won't be able to do anything to get rid of it, and neither will you. Your best bet would be to capture it in a Pokeball."

"My family will make me go on a journey then," Flick mused, unable to keep dejection out of her voice. She didn't want to go on a journey; she wanted to tend to her garden. It wasn't fair. One of her grandmother's favorite phrases 'Life isn't fair' popped into her head and she smiled wryly. How true that statement was.

"Well, there's nothing I can do about that." The Professor stood up and motioned for Flick to do the same. "I _can _give you six Pokeballs and wish you luck in capturing Absol – though I don't think you'll need it."

Flick followed the Professor as he went over to a large cabinet and started rummaging through drawers. "I'd give you a starter and let you have a real battle with Absol before you capture it, but I've just given away the last one," he explained, pulling several objects out of one of the drawers. "Here we go."

"That's okay, Professor. Is Absol really a foreteller of doom?" Flick asked as she accepted the Pokeballs and shoved them into her pocket. The professor shrugged.

"I have no idea," he admitted, going over to another drawer and taking out a flat red object, which he handed to Flick. She stared at it, uncomprehending. "It's a Pokedex. There are all sorts of rumors about Absol and other such rare Pokemon, most of which make marginal sense."

"And you don't know which of the rumors are true, Professor?" Flick guessed.

"Exactly."

"Um… Why did you give me a Pokedex?"

The Professor smiled. He was much more cheerful than Flick had imagined him to be. "For one thing, you'll probably need or want to know what Pokemon you run into. There are a lot of them out there, and you won't know all of them." Flick nodded. "Besides, I'd like to take a look at your Pokedex every once in a while and see if I can compile more data on Pokemon I haven't had a chance to get a complete file on yet."

"Like Absol?"

He nodded. "Like Absol."

Flick was about to go outside to capture the Absol – fully intending to drop the Pokeball off at the Pokemon Center in Oldale and never come back for it afterwards – when another thought occurred to her. She half-turned to give the Professor a quizzical look. "Um… Professor?"

"Yes?"

"How do you know Absol's outside the lab now?"

The Professor grinned. "Security cameras are a lovely thing, wouldn't you agree?"

_

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A/N: So, this chapter was originally going to get the journey actually started and include some OC's, but unfortunately, it was getting way to long and I was lazy. Chastise me later. Guys, I still need OC's, and more entry's for the main OC contest. Preferably a male, since all I'm getting are females. I know that there hasn't been any action yet, but be patient. There should be some next chapter, and if not, definitely the chapter afterwards. Anyways, it's time for the infamous vote of the update! Today's question: Should Flick keep her bike, or should it be destroyed and/or confiscated?


	3. Pandora

_Disclaimer: I... own nothing. Still. Surprised, aren't you? No? Oh, well._

* * *

Flick rolled the red and white Pokeball in the palm of her gloved hand thoughtfully as she made her way towards the lab doors. Here was a dilemma she had never considered before. If she caught Absol, her parents would force her to start traveling; she wouldn't have a choice. If she didn't catch it, Absol would stalk her until she went insane. Either way, the outcome was not preferable.

"Dad?" Flick asked, coming up behind her dad, who had his head buried in a sheaf of notes. He looked up when she spoke and smiled.

"Flick! How did it go?" he wanted to know, setting down his pen. "Was Professor Birch able to help you?"

Flick shifted uncomfortably on the new purple sneakers her mother had insisted on buying her. The color purple happened to be one of her favorites, but she personally thought that wearing it made her look like a giant grape, which was why she was both happy and irritated at the clothing her mom had gotten her. The outfit she wore now consisted of purple sneakers, blue jeans, a pale green belt with suspicious clips that she was certain were for Pokeballs (and which now made her feel stupid as she realized that she was probably supposed to have clipped the empty Pokeballs to her belt, rather than shoving them down into her pocket), and a lavender tank top with a pattern of violet flowers along the bottom. She also had a pair of green and purple biking gloves and a thin, sturdy scarf that matched her belt, despite the fact that it was the middle of summer. Flick was bedecked in her favorite colors, colors that made her look like, in her opinion, either a grape on the vine or an eggplant.

She brought up this complaint now, before delving into the whole mess with the Absol. "I look like an eggplant," she muttered ungraciously, sending a mock glare towards her father when he started to chuckle.

"Not at all. Eggplants are fat," he teased. "You, on the other hand, are so skinny I'm surprised the wind doesn't pick you up and blow you away."

"Dad!" Flick smiled slightly, which was clearly what her father had been waiting for. She usually didn't grumble or complain much, and using that to screen what was bothering her was a favorite tactic, something she knew both her parents knew, though her grandmother apparently hadn't caught on yet.

"There's my girl. I was wondering where she'd got to." He got up and put his hands on her shoulders. "What's wrong, Flick?"

Flick sighed and stared at the white tile, marked with countless sneaker marks. She rubbed her new sneakers against the tile, absently adding to the black marks and causing some very annoying squeaks, while she tried to figure out how to put her thoughts into words. "I guess," she started slowly, picking at a seam in her left glove, "I don't know. Professor Birch says I have to capture Absol. He says that Absol's picked me as its trainer."

"Then you'll have to catch Absol, won't you?" Flick didn't meet her dad's eyes, instead turning her attention to the floral pattern on her shirt. "Flick, look at me." At the order, Flick fiddled with the hem of her shirt for a moment more, then reluctantly looked up. "I know you don't want to be a trainer, but the Professor is right. You know how we got Sammy, right?"

She certainly did. Flick had been six when they'd gotten Sammy, and it was because she'd seen the injured Poochyena at the edge of town, picked him up, and brought him to Nurse Joy, demanding that the redheaded nurse heal him that they had Sammy today. "Yeah," was all she said.

"Then you know that you'll be a good trainer. Pokemon like you, Flick. Just look at how many wild Pokemon let you be near them."

"That's only because of the flowers."

"I would agree with you, but they leave when your mother or I come out. I've seen you cuddle a wild Zigzagoon and tickle a Wurmple." Flick shrugged, brushing it off. It was true that her garden attracted wild Pokemon, and it was equally true that she was able to touch them and even play with them on occasion, but she didn't consider it to be anything special the way her father seemed to think it was. After all, she lived in Oldale. The most dangerous Pokemon that ever showed up there was the rare Mightyena. Not even Absol had proven to be dangerous, unless one believed superstition.

"Dad, I don't want to be a trainer," she protested. "I want to garden. I_ like _gardening!"

"I know, and believe it or not, I understand." Her father looked around quickly, as though making sure that nobody was close enough to hear them (which was ridiculous – between the screeching of the Taillow, the harried "Get back here!"'s of the aid after it, and the miscellaneous talking and Pokemon noises, she was surprised that anyone could even work here without throwing things at the wall) then lowered his voice. "Don't ever tell your mother I said this, but when I was your age, you know what I wanted to be?"

"A trainer, like you always tell me," Flick replied. To her surprise, her father shook his head, a rueful smile on his face.

"Actually, that was when I was eleven. When I was your age, I wanted to be a police officer." Flick laughed disbelievingly and her father grinned. "It's true! I probably made the entire police force of Saffron want to stuff me in a jail cell because I kept on following the officers around. I only went on my Pokemon journey because your grandmother forced a Pokeball in my hands, threw me out the door, and informed me that I was locked out of the house until I came back with a Pokemon."

A grin spread over Flick's face. "Really?"

"Really," her father confirmed. "Maybe this reluctance is genetic, because I honestly can't think of a reason why both of us would dislike the thought of a Pokemon adventure –" Flick giggled, "but it doesn't matter. If Absol's picked you, then you have to capture it. It's a great honor and a fairly rare occurrence for a Pokemon to pick its trainer, or so I understand. Yes, you'll have to start your adventure –" Flick interrupted with a groan, earning a look from her father before he continued –"and who knows? You might actually find that you like it more than gardening."

Flick sighed. "I really don't have a choice, do I?" she mumbled.

"No."

She considered it for a good long minute, then sighed in defeat. "Tell mom to take care of my garden?" she asked hopefully. "I don't want to go home and have her freak out on me."

"Word of honor," her father replied. Flick looked on, puzzled, as he opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a white bag and handed it to her.

"What's in here?" she asked, hefting it with her arm to test the weight. It didn't seem particularly heavy. She poked it, and frowned when her finger met with squishy resistance. "Are these…" She trailed off and unbuckled the top to look inside. Flick stared, then closed it again with an accusing look at her dad. "These are clothes! And towels! And whatever else mom thinks I need for a Pokemon adventure!"

It was her father's turn to shrug. "She gave it to me ages ago, in case you changed your mind and decided to come get a Pokemon," he replied. "A good thing, too, otherwise you'd never have the things you'd need now, would you?"

Flick just shook her head and slung the one-strap bag over her shoulder. "I give up. You guys win." After a slight pause, she added, "Love you, dad."

"Love you too, Felicity."

"Dad!"

Her father just grinned and gave her a wave as he sat down on her desk. Flick returned the smile and left the lab, still not certain about what she was about to do, still angry that she had to do it, and still stubborn, but knowing that since she didn't have a choice, she may as well make the best of it. With this resolution, she pushed open the doors, stepped outside – and came face to face with a pair of red eyes set in black. She yelped and stepped back, forgetting that she had just closed the door, which resulted in a rather hard thunk on the back of her head.

"Ow…" she moaned, rubbing the afflicted spot as the Pokeball in her left hand dropped to the floor. "That hurt." She sent a glare towards the cause of her misfortune, who backed up until it was a respectable four feet away instead of four inches. "You better stop that," she told the Absol as fiercely as she could manage, which wasn't very fierce at all. "It's not funny."

"Sol," Absol replied, sounding both amused and contrite at the same time. Flick scowled and folded her arms across her chest. "I mean it."

"Sol," was the only reply she got, and Flick suddenly felt very stupid for talking back to a Pokemon. Sure, she held entire mostly one-sided conversations with Sammy and the Pokemon that visited her garden on occasion, but that was different. For one thing, she was always alone in those cases. Now she was in the middle of town, and she could see several curious passers-by coming over to see what was going on.

Flick knelt to pick up the Pokeball. "I'm going to regret this, I just know it," she muttered as she stood. A push of the white button and the Pokeball expanded to fill her hand. She gulped. "Stand still," she ordered the Absol, who was watching her curiously, though it thankfully hadn't moved. "I don't exactly know what I'm doing and I can't actually fight you."

"Absol," the Pokemon agreed, settling down into a comfortable sitting position that reminded Flick of Sammy when he sat by the door waiting for her to clip on his leash so they could go. Flick rubbed her thumb on the Pokeball, still conflicted. Did she really have to do this? A moment later she mentally slapped herself. Of course she did. She knew that. Flick eyed the Absol, took aim, and threw the Pokeball at the white and black Pokemon before she could change her mind.

The ball soared through the air and bonked Absol on the foot. Flick grimaces; she'd been aiming for the head. Absol, however, was unperturbed as the Pokeball opened and swallowed it up in a flash of red light. It wavered on the ground for a few seconds that were breathtaking for the small crowd that had gathered (translation: four people) but were inducing a slow horror in Flick before making the quiet noise that marked the capture a successful one. A kid started to cheer as Flick made her way over to the Pokeball and picked it up.

"I'm doomed," she decided, Pokeball in hand.

"That was cool," a female voice complimented her. Flick looked up to see a girl probably only a few inches shorter than her standing in front of her, a Mudkip sitting on her foot and a Swablu perched on her shoulder. Sable hair spilled out from her high ponytail over one shoulder, partly obscuring the mauve shirt she wore. "I don't think I've ever heard of someone catching a Pokemon the way you just did."

"Um, thanks?" Flick tried.

The girl smiled. "Personally, I would have used another Pokemon to battle it, but your way worked. What starter Pokemon did you get from Professor Birch?"

"I didn't," Flick explained. The girl looked flabbergasted.

"No way," she said flatly.

"Way," Flick replied, then winced. "Note to self: never say that again."

"Blu?" Swablu tilted its head to the side to stare at Flick. The girl absently put up a hand and stroked its blue head, still staring at Flick. "Why don't you have a starter?"

"Professor Birch didn't have any left," Flick settled on saying, which was by far the simplest answer. The hand petting Swablu dropped and brown eyes stared at Flick somewhat guiltily. She raised a hand to cover her mouth, then just as quickly let it drop.

"That's my fault," the girl admitted, "I took Splix here," she nudged the Mudkip off her foot, who grinned goofily up at the two, "just a little while ago. I am so sorry."

Flick shrugged. "It's okay." She hesitated, then said, "My name's Flick."

"Jess," Jess answered, offering a hand, which Flick took. "I really am sorry about the whole stealing Splix before you showed up – although I'm not sure you would have wanted him," she added as Splix raced around them in figure eights.

"I'm not sure I would have wanted him either," Flick admitted as Splix raced headlong into the wall of the lab.

They watched Splix shake off the thump to the head and start running again, though now he appeared to be having difficulty moving in a straight line. "So," Jess asked when Splix straightened back out, "what are you planning on nicknaming your Absol?"

"My Absol?" Flick was confused for a second. "Oh. I guess it is."

"She," Jess corrected. Flick gave her a startled look and Jess waved it off. "I didn't go to trainer school for five years and learn nothing."

Flick nodded, then turned her attention to the question. There was no doubt in her mind that she was going to nickname her Pokemon, but what she was going to nickname it – her, she reminded herself – was an entirely different matter. Considering that Absol had barged into her life and turned it upside down, she felt that it – she, darn it! – deserved a name that reflected that. A particularly well-suited one came to mind and Flick allowed herself a grin. "Pandora," she said out loud.

"Hmm?" Jess glanced over when Flick spoke, her mind clearly somewhere else.

"Pandora," Flick repeated. At Jess's confused look she explained. "In mythology, Pandora opened the box that let loose all the bad things in the world. You know, disease, death, disaster, those sorts of things. But she also let loose hope."

Jess nodded thoughtfully. "Pandora. Not bad."

She dug out a Pokeball from a side pocket in the yellow sling backpack she had over one shoulder and returned Splix, who had managed to thoroughly annoy Swablu by that time. Flick clipped the Pokeball containing the newly dubbed Pandora to her belt and went to get her bike, which was, unfortunately, no longer where she had left it. "I don't believe this," she groaned, deducing what had happened.

"Something happen?" Jess asked as she walked up behind Flick to look at the wall confusedly.

"My bike's gone," Flick explained. "Someone must have stolen it."

"Interesting," Jess mused. Flick turned in astonishment, about to open her mouth and demand to know why it was so interesting when Jess continued with, "Seeing as you don't have a bike, you want to walk with me back to Rustboro?" Seeing Flick's astonished look, Jess hurried on to say, "I have to tell my parents that I'm an official trainer now, and there's a bike shop in Maville. That's not too far away from Rustboro."

Flick considered this option for a moment. Certainly, traveling with someone else would be far more fun than traveling alone. Besides, she liked Jess. "Okay," Flick agreed with a smile.

Jess mirrored her smile with one of her own. "Off we go!"

* * *

_A/N: Oh my Arceus. It's been a while. I am so sorry you had to put up with this wait. Please feel free to murder me with whatever you have on hand, but I hope you will refrain. It would be painful and then I could never update ever again. This is also the longest chapter I've written, so hopefully that will appease you readers who are, for some reason, loyal. So. Anyways. Back to business. Jess belongs to Imagination Domination and is the first winner of the main OC contest. Congratulations! the next winner will show up in the next couple of chapters. From here on out, not only do we actually get plot, but a lot of OC's are going to start making their appearances, so guys, let me know if I'm not portraying them correctly. Seriously. Bash upside the head with a cast-iron skillet if you need to. You're free to submit OC's still, but I'm only going to be taking them for this chapter and the next, so get them in. After that I will no longer accept OC's. Vote of the update time! How well did I write the scene with Absol (or Pandora, as she must now be called)?_


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